Wood bat purchasing decisions. What is an X-OUT wood bat?

“What’s wrong with them?” is most often the first question asked when players consider purchasing an X-OUT wood bat.

Many things might cause a wood bat getting kicked out of the regular production process and being deemed an X-OUT.

First and foremost, we probably employ the pickiest staff who custom craft your wood bat.  And that’s a good thing (actually a GREAT thing).

We consider quality control a priority during our wood bat production.  Each order is scrutinized, no matter the customer.

• Grain structure
  • We examine every inch of the wood bat billet to determine which end is best suited for the handle.
• Proper weight
  • MaxBats are weighed at least 6 times throughout the production process.  If the bat is off in weight, it’s simply deemed an X-OUT, even though there is nothing structurally wrong with the wood.
• Appearance (mineral streaks)
  • Sometimes a dark brown, black, or gray streak can run the length of a wood bat barrel after the billet is turned.  This is caused by minerals in the soil in which the tree grew.  It’s nothing more than a stain. IF the wood bat order called for a light colored barrel, it will probably now become an X-OUT wood bat.
• Straightness of grain
  • Even if we choose a wood bat billet that appears to have the straightest of grains, after a billet is turned into a wood bat, slight imperfections in the grain might cause the staff to reject it.  This doesn’t happen too often because of the way the logs are processed and turned into wood bat billets, but we still rely on a number of quality control measures to ensure that your wood bat is what you’re expecting from MaxBat.

Another question about our X-OUTS is “what models are they?”.  The models will vary, as they are a result of normal wood bat production.  They could be one of our more popular wood bat models on our website, or they could be a completely new wood bat profile being drawn up for one of our professional clients.  Most of the wood bat models that we make have a common 15/16″ medium handle, so most of the X-OUTS will feature that handle size as well.

So, is purchasing an X-OUT a viable option for an individual player or a team? Absolutely. Most players who purchase them are looking for a wood bat to use in the batting cage, ore perhaps aren’t too comfortable swinging a wood bat yet.  Many of our customers who have purchased our X-OUTS no longer ask “What’s wrong with them?”, but instead tell us, “I don’t know why you guys call these X-OUTS…..they’re perfect”.